The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 (E3 2016) was the 22nd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to attendees, primarily retailers and members of the video game press. The event, organized by the Entertainment Software Association, took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 14–16, 2016. Approximately 50,300 people attended the event, slightly down from the previous year's. The focus of E3 2016 was primarily on new software titles for the 8th generation of video game consoles, with new hardware revisions and auxiliary equipment to support the growing market sectors of 4K resolution displays and virtual reality headsets.
The Expo started two days after the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida nightclub. It was also three days after the murder of American singer and YouTuber Christina Grimmie, who had been scheduled to make an appearance at the event. To show support for victims of the tragedies, the exhibitors at the Expo made changes to their presentations and plans. Flags outside the Convention Center were lowered to half-mast. Bethesda and Nintendo presenters wore rainbow-colored ribbon pins during their press conferences in support of the victims, and Microsoft and the aforementioned Nintendo opened their presentations with a moment of silence for Grimmie and the other victims. Sony's chairman Shawn Layden started his presentation with a brief speech on the Orlando shooting, and Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aimé gave his condolences to Grimmie's family and fans before starting his keynote speech. Other developers altered their approach to social media announcements during the Expo in the wake of current events.
Press conferences
Square Enix Square Enix hosted a Deus Ex Universe pre-E3 press conference on June 8 at 8:30 a.m. During the conference, a 17-minute demo for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was shown along with a new game mode called Breach, as well as the 3rd game in the Square Enix Go franchise, Deus Ex Go.
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts hosted its press conference on June 12 at 1:00 p.m. as part of their own EA Play event. During the conference, EA showed two new trailers for Titanfall 2, gameplay of Battlefield 1, a behind-the-scenes look at Mass Effect: Andromeda and updates on upcoming Star Wars games from EA. The game company also revealed a teaser trailer for Madden NFL 17, a new game mode for FIFA 17, and a new project called EA Originals, which will help to publish titles created by indie developers, with the first such title being Fe.
Bethesda Bethesda hosted its second press conference on June 12 at 7:00 p.m. During the conference, a remaster of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was revealed, along with new DLC content and VR versions for The Elder Scrolls Online, Doom and Fallout 4 and an intro for The Elder Scrolls: Legends. Trailers, gameplay, and release windows were shown for Prey, Quake Champions and Dishonored 2.
Microsoft Microsoft hosted a press conference on June 13 at 9:30 a.m. During the conference, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One S—a new revision of the original Xbox One model with a smaller form factor and 4K video support (released August 2016), and teased "Project Scorpio"—later named Xbox One X, a higher-end version of the console scheduled for 2017. New trailers were shown for Gears of War 4, Halo Wars 2, Inside, Tekken 7, Killer Instinct, ReCore, Scalebound and Sea of Thieves, along with reveals of Dead Rising 4, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 3. Additional announcements were made for new Xbox Live functionality, the Xbox Play Anywhere program that would allow users to play purchased supported Xbox One games on their Windows 10 computers without having to re-purchase the game and enable cross-platform play capabilities between the two platforms, and an Elite Wireless Controller themed to Gears of War 4, as well as the reveal of Xbox Design Lab and a demo for Final Fantasy XV.
PC Gaming Show PC Gamer hosted the second PC Gaming Show on June 13 at 12:00 p.m. AMD announced two new graphic processor cards for PC gaming, and demonstrated a prototype wearable VR unit using an Alienware system with an AMD graphics card worn on a person's back. Warren Spector gave a short lecture appreciating the keyboard-and-mouse control schemes common to many PC games. Approximately twenty PC games were featured in the show, including expansions for Ark: Survival Evolved, Killing Floor 2, and Superhot and new games including Lawbreakers, Overland, The Turing Test, Dual Universe, Oxygen Not Included, Giant Cop, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, The Surge, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, and Vampyr.
Ubisoft Ubisoft hosted a press conference on June 13 at 1:00 p.m. During the conference, new trailers and dates were shown for For Honor, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands and South Park: The Fractured but Whole, along with demos of Watch Dogs 2 and Eagle Flight. Ubisoft also released the behind-the-scene footage of the Assassin's Creed movie, along with the reveals of Steep, Trials of the Blood Dragon, Grow Up, and Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
Sony Sony Interactive Entertainment hosted a press conference on June 13 at 6:00 p.m. Sony announced the cost and release date of the PlayStation VR headset on October 13, 2016, with fifty games to be supported at launch; additional VR games announced included Batman: Arkham VR, Star Wars: Battlefront X-Wing VR, and Farpoint. Sony announced the release date for the long-awaited The Last Guardian for October 25, 2016, and a planned remastering of the first three Crash Bandicoot games. New games announced included a new God of War, Resident Evil 7, Death Stranding, Days Gone, and at the time unnamed Spider-Man to be developed by Insomniac Games.
Nintendo Nintendo, continuing a precedence set at the previous three expos, decided to forego hosting either a traditional press conference or announcement video in favor of two separate day-long Treehouse Live shows. The first broadcast on June 14 was dedicated to the full reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sun and Moon. The second broadcast on June 15 covered several other announced first-party titles, including the Pokémon Go Plus device that would work alongside the upcoming mobile game, Ever Oasis, Mario Party: Star Rush, Paper Mario: Color Splash, BoxBoxBoy!, and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, which was released that day on Nintendo's eShop. It also featured other third-party games that would appear on the Nintendo 3DS, including Monster Hunter Generations, Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, and Yo-kai Watch 2.
Nintendo made the unorthodox decision to not present the then-unrevealed Nintendo Switch (at this point still known as by its codename, "NX") at E3 2016, despite the console being due for an early 2017 release. At a shareholders meeting following E3, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that this was due to concerns of competitors copying from it if they revealed it too soon. Nintendo's presence on the show floor was devoted exclusively to Breath of the Wild.
List of notable exhibitors Several major exhibitors who had attended the previous E3 exhibitions were not present. Activision opted to forgo a booth at the show, instead featuring their upcoming games through other publishers that would be there, such as allowing Sony to showcase Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Electronic Arts opted to hold their EA Play event separate from E3, and forgo any floor space at the show. Both Disney Interactive Studios (which ceased to operate as an independent developer effective May 2016) and Wargaming opted to not present in the event.
The following is a partial list of vendors that had exhibitions during the convention:
Bethesda Softworks Deep Silver Electronic Arts Focus Home Interactive Koei Tecmo Microsoft Studios Nintendo Sega Sony Interactive Entertainment Square Enix Take-Two Interactive Ubisoft
List of featured games This is a list of notable titles that appeared at E3 2016.
2K Games Battleborn (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Civilization VI (PC) Civilization Revolution 2 Plus (Vita) Mafia III (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) WWE 2K17 (PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) 505 Games Abzû (PC / PS4) Assetto Corsa (PS4 / Xbox One) Portal Knights (PC) Prominence Poker (PC) Rocket League (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Activision Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (PS4) Destiny: Rise of Iron (PS4 / Xbox One) Skylanders: Imaginators (PS3 / PS4 / Wii U / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) Anuman Moto Racer 4 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Syberia 3 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Yesterday Origins (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Bandai Namco Entertainment Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) God Eater 2: Rage Burst (PS4 / Vita / PC) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven (PS4) Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs-Force (Vita) Necropolis (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (PS4 / Vita) Tales of Berseria (PS4 / PC) Tekken 7 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Bethesda Softworks Dishonored 2 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Doom: Unto the Evil (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) The Elder Scrolls: Legends (PC / iOS / Android) The Elder Scrolls Online: Dark Brotherhood (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim – Special Edition (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Fallout 4 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One / HTC Vive) Fallout Shelter (PC / iOS / Android) Prey (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Quake Champions (PC) Bigben Interactive WRC 6 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Capcom Monster Hunter Generations (3DS) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PC / PS4 / PSVR / Xbox One) CD Projekt Gwent: The Witcher Card Game (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Chucklefish Stardew Valley (PC / PS4 / Wii U / Xbox One) Codemasters F1 2016 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Compulsion Games We Happy Few (PC / Xbox One) Deep Silver Agents of Mayhem (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Devolver Digital Absolver (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Eitr (PC / PS4) Mother Russia Bleeds (PC / PS4) Serious Sam VR (Oculus Rift) Shadow Warrior 2 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Electronic Arts Battlefield 1 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Fe (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) FIFA 17 (Android / iOS / PC / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) Madden NFL 17 (PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) NHL 17 (PS4 / Xbox One) Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Missions (PSVR) Titanfall 2 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One)Focus Home Interactive Farming Simulator 17 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Mordheim: City of the Damned (PC / Xbox One) Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom (TBA) Space Hulk: Deathwing (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) The Surge (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Styx: Shards of Darkness (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) The Technomancer (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Vampyr (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) GungHo Online Entertainment Let It Die (PS4) Inti Creates Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3DS) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC / Wii U / Vita / PS4 / Xbox One) Gal*Gun: Double Peace (PS4 / Vita) Mighty No. 9 (PC / Wii U / 3DS / Vita / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PC / Wii U / Vita / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One) Kadokawa Corporation Demon Gaze II (Vita) God Wars: Beyond Time (PS4 / Vita) Project Code: Daten (PS4 / Vita) Root Letter (PS4 / Vita) Koei Tecmo Attack on Titan (PC / PS3 / PS4 / Vita / Xbox One) Nioh (PS4) Untitled Omega Force project Konami Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One) Microsoft Studios Dead Rising 4 (PC / Xbox One) Forza Horizon 3 (PC / Xbox One) Gears of War 4 (PC / Xbox One) Halo Wars 2 (PC / Xbox One) Inside (PC / Xbox One) Killer Instinct (PC / Xbox One) Minecraft (iOS / Android / PC) ReCore (PC / Xbox One) Scalebound (PC / Xbox One) Sea of Thieves (PC / Xbox One) State of Decay 2 (PC / Xbox One) Natsume Inc. Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (3DS) River City: Tokyo Rumble (3DS)